Zoe's only wish is to be able to run barefoot through grass, but she knows it'll never happen. Ever since she was born, she's been unable to touch anything living without it instantly dying. It's a curse she would do anything to get rid of, but that...
Already from the look on her face when we stepped inside, I knew that coming here had been the right choice. She looked so astounded and full of wonder.
If I had had any doubts about it left, it was all gone after five minutes of playing. It was very similar to when we had thrown axes. I taught and she concentrated as she learned. This went faster though, and already after five minutes had she gotten a pretty good handle on Pacman. The delight and excitement on her face made her shine even brighter than normal. And the face she made when she lost was adorable. She acted like an excited five-year-old and, as happy as it made me to see her in such delight, it also saddened me. I couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever gotten to be a proper child.
We played a few different games and in a blink of an eye, two hours had passed. By then, we had both become hungry without even noticing. She excused herself to go to the bathroom before dinner and I knew exactly what I wanted to spend the few minutes alone that I would get doing.
There obviously was a claw machine there, and I had already earlier noticed a bear hugging a heart among the stuffed animals in it. I knew it was corny as hell, a complete rom-com cliché, but damn it, I wanted to get that one for her.
As soon as she disappeared, I hurried over to the machine. I fed it a coin and got started. And another coin. And another.
"Damn it!" I exclaimed when I failed for the seventh time.
"What are you doing?" she asked from behind me. I jumped slightly, not having noticed her approaching at all with as hard as I concentrated on the machine.
"Ehm, nothing," I said and scratched the back of my head, feeling far too embarrassed to admit the truth.
"What is this one?" she continued asking and got closer to examine the machine.
"You're supposed to grab hold of one of the toys with the claw and get it to there," I said and pointed to the hole that I had missed by an inch.
"Oh! Were you trying to get a specific one out?" she asked, and she just looked so adorably innocent. Any other girl and they would have known exactly what I had been up to. I had even been there with girls before that had seemed to expect me to want to win them something and been utterly disappointed when I had said it was just a waste of money. But by the way Zoe's eyes shone, it was clear that she was only curious.
"Yeah," I admitted and then pointed. "That one. But I've already tried too many times, it's no use."
She followed my finger with her eyes and smiled. "It's cute! Why don't you try one more time? Maybe I'll be your good luck charm."
She winked, and I wanted to tell her that if anything, it would go worse with her next to me, since it caused my heart to go out of control. But I couldn't turn down her request. She could have probably asked me to win her all the toys in the machine and I would have gladly obliged. Anything, as long as she was happy.
I took a deep breath to try to settle my nerves a little before feeding the machine another coin and trying one last time.
Almost immediately, I felt it wouldn't go well. I was far too unconcentrated. As I lowered the claw towards the bear, I felt a shift in the air around me. Likely someone opening the door, I thought to myself before also cursing under my breath. It obviously wouldn't go well if my mind was occupied with thinking about such things.
But to my complete astonishment, I got the claw around the bear and managed to lift it. Holding my breath, I moved it to the hole, watched with my eyes wide open. I pressed to release and could see that I had done it too early. It would land on the edge and fall outside. There was another shift in the air and I once again became completely astounded, as it didn't land outside. It hit the edge, but fell into the hole instead of out as I excepted it to.
"You did it!" Zoe exclaimed at my side.
I was too busy staring at the machine, so she bent down to retrieve the bear.
"I can't believe I managed. I really didn't think..." I mumbled and turned to her. That had really been a miracle.
"Told you I would be your lucky charm," she winked and held the bear out to me.
I came out of my daze as I realized she tried to hand me the bear.
"No, it's yours. I... I only wanted to win it because I wanted to give it to you." I hadn't ever before felt as embarrassed as I did in that moment. It had seemed like such a sweet thing when I had decided to try, but now... Ugh, it just felt stupid.
"You... For me?" Zoe looked at me with wide eyes and then down at the bear.
"It's just stupid," I said, shaking my head and feeling the awkwardness settling in me. "You can just throw it away or something."
"No!" she yelled and looked at me with shock, hugging the bear to her chest. It looked as if she was ready to protect it with her everything. "I just thought... Thank you."
She gave me a soft smile, and her eyes radiated pure joy. The awkwardness I had felt was all gone. It had completely been worth it and I would have spent the whole night in front of that machine if necessary to receive that smile.
And I really fucking wanted to kiss her in that moment. Hold her tight and engulf myself in all of her sweetness. My beautiful, innocent Zoe. I wanted all of her forever.
"Alright," I smiled back at her instead, keeping myself in place. "Shall we eat then?"
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